MLS Prediction: Real Salt Lake at Seattle Sounders

Two teams that have made quite a bad start in the 2017 season will be looking to find some stability, when the Seattle Sounders will be playing host to Real Salt Lake on Saturday, May 20th. Seattle are coming off a very bad string of results that have left them struggling at the bottom of the Western Conference, while RSL have not done much better, sitting just above them in the standings.

Seattle (2-5-4) have made quite a bad start in the 2017 season, as they have only won two of their 11 matches so far. They are coming off a very frustrating and unfair 0-3 loss to Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday, in a match where they didn’t actually deserve to lose by such a big deficit. The Sounders were dominant in the first half, but were unable to convert their scoring chances into goals. Even so, they were stunned by SKC at the start of the second half, as Fernando scored a hattrick in a 13 minute span (56th, 58th and 69th minute), that left them hopeless for any points. That was their 3 consecutive loss, as they have now won just one of their last 8 matches (1-4-3). As a result, they are now sitting at the 10th spot of the Western Conference with 10 points, having scored 15 goals against 19 conceded. They have been mediocre at home so far (1-1-2), where they defeated the Red Bulls by 1-3, before a goal-less draw against Atlanta. They looked great against New England when they came back from a 3 goal deficit in order to secure the draw point, before falling to Toronto by 1-0. They will be coming into this match with quite a few injury concerns, as Torres and Wingo are unavailable, while Kovar, Tolo and Alonso are all still listed as questionable to participate.

On the other hand, Real Salt Lake (3-7-2) are coming off a pretty solid 1-2 win at home against NYCFC. Their opponents stunned them at the start of the match, when they took the lead at the 4th minute with Okoli. However, Real Salt Lake went into the locker room having pulled even at the 38th minute with Rusnak, before eventually overturning the result in their favor at the 51st minute for the final 1-2. It was an amazing result, as it put an end to their bad streak of 4 consecutive losses. They are now sitting at the 9th spot of the Western Conference with 11 points, having scored 11 goals against 23 conceded so far. They have been pretty weak on the road so far (1-4-1), where they have only defeated Colorado, but have lost to Minnesota, SKC and New England. There, they have scored 4 goals against 14 conceded. They will be making this trip with a ton of injury concerns, as Barrett and Horst are unavailable, while Allen, Beckerman, Rimando, Beltran and Phillips are all still listed as questionable to participate. Moreover, Acosta, Lennon and Saucedo are involved in national team duties and are also listed as questionable.

The Sounders are traditionally a strong team at home, where they have been dominant against RSL over the years (8-2-3). They have straight up won the last 6 matches as hosts, but the last 4 had goals from both sides. Seattle are on an unnatural 3 match losing streak, and expect that to change on Saturday, as they blow up a struggling RSL side.